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Inequality in Education

Eduardo Porter points out that in the United States far more public resources are devoted to educating rich children than poor children (Economic Scene, Nov. 6). Clearly, this is a serious problem that cannot be addressed by the widely touted fixes of standardized testing and the dismantling of teacher tenure.

As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz points out in his book “The Price of Inequality,” the gross inequality of wealth and income in this country has numerous deleterious effects on our society. Among them are the increasing inequality of opportunity, to which educational inequality contributes greatly, and a bias in policy making that favors the well-to-do.

Given this widespread bias, the disparity in educational resources comes as no surprise. Correcting this educational inequality will be difficult, so long as the severe inequality in wealth, income and power persists. Meanwhile, the inequality in education contributes to making the inequalities in wealth, income, opportunity and power even greater.